Marxism and Russell and 'opposing' First World War and other issues

Negativity is inherent in Marxism !!

I am not saying this; nor any BJP man or a RSS ideologue.
Bertrand Russell has said so in 1952... in an interview... the video is available on Youtube... Russell sums up the debate ----

"If a philosophy has to bring happiness, it should be inspired by kindly feeling. Now, Marxism is not inspired by a kindly feeling. In recent years, the most influence has been Marx. He certainly has most influence than anybody else".

"Marx pretended that he wanted the happiness of the proletariat, but what he really wanted was the unhappiness of the Bourgeois". The negativity still exists !   

(some excerpts of the interview)

##

I got to Cambridge when I was 18. And that was a new world to me completely. For the first time I met people when I said anything, he did not think it absurd. I learnt to say almost nothing about what I thought. People had a horror of philosophy which interested me.

....they would say every time Philosophy was mentioned, the philosophy is summed up completely in these two questions - 

What is matter?  - Never mind.

What is mind? No matter.

When I came to Cambridge it was great comfort for me to find people who did not regard philosophy as absurd. So I was very very happy when I came to Cambridge I quickly came to know who became my life long friends. Most of them still alive are still my friends. 

##I did three years Mathematics and one year philosophy at Cambridge.

I had only Mathematics before going to Cambridge.

@@@ Two really different things caused my interest in philosophy. On the one hand, I wanted to understand the principles of Mathematics. 

I observed that all the rules of mathematical proportions that were taught were obviously fallacious -- they really did not prove what they said they did.

And I wanted to know whether there is any truth in the world to teach now. And I thought if there is any it is probably in Mathematics. And it was not in Mathematics...and so I tried to find  out some truth there.

The other thing that made me interested in philosophy was the hope that I might find some basis for religious belief.

In Mathematical part of the hope, I was fairly satisfied. But in the other part, no, not at all. 

For a time I found satisfaction in the platonic eternal world of ideas which has a sort of religious flavour and gave me certain satisfaction.

And then I came to know it was non sense.

And I was left without Any satisfaction except in my desires to remain so.

.... Philosophy was proved to be a washout to me. 

#@#@ 

I disagreed first with my people about both Mathematics and about Philosophy. They cared only about virtue...they thought virtue was the only thing of importance in the world.

Mathematics was therefore unimportant because it had no ethical content. Philosophy was pernicious because they thought it undermined virtue.

#@On first world war....

"...I took a pacifist line. I was against the first war, I was not against the second. Some people think this is is an inconsistency but it is not.

I never said I was against all wars. I said I was against that war."

I still hold that view. The first war was a mistake. And I think England's participation in it was a mistake.

I think if that had not happened, we would not have had the Communists. We would bot have had the Nazis. 

You would not have the second world war and you would not have the threat of the third.The world would have been very much a better place.

(He also wrote a letter on Aug 15, 1913)

“Sir – Against the vast majority of my countrymen, in the name of humanity and civilization, I protest against our share in the destruction of Germany. A month ago, Europe was a peaceful comity of nations; if an Englishman killed a German, he was hanged. Now .. he is a patriot. We rejoice when we read of innocent young men, blindly obedient to the word of command, mown down in thousands by the machine guns of Liege.

Those who saw the London crowds, during the nights leading up to the Declaration of War, saw a whole population, hitherto peaceable and humane, letting loose, in a moment, instincts of hatred and blood lust .. Dim abstractions of unimaginable wickedness conceal the fact that the enemy are men like ourselves, neither better nor worse – men who love their homes and the sunshine, and all the simple pleasures of common lives.. 

"And all this madness, all this rage, all this flaming death of our civilization and its hopes, has been brought about because a set of official gentlemen, living luxurious lives, have chosen that it should occur, rather than any of them should suffer some infinitesimal rebuff to his country’s pride…"

%%%%